Why Lucasfilm Fired The Original Solo Directors, According To Kathleen Kennedy

It's an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan. With Disney now in charge of the property and producing a myriad of different films, we should expect a new Star Wars movie ever year for the foreseeable future. But the galaxy far, far away isn't without its challenges, as there have been a handful of directors who left their highly publicized roles. Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord were canned toward the end of filming, with Ron Howard stepping in to complete the standalone film. Now Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has opened up about the choice to part ways with the duo, saying:

I just say over and over again that, yes, it was an incredibly difficult decision that we had to make and obviously it was pretty late in the game, which shows we spent a lot of time trying not to have to make that decision. And I think both Chris and Phil are enormously talented and incredibly funny. When all of this came together, all of us wanted nothing more than to have this be an incredible working experience. And when it was not working out as we had all hoped, it wasn't out of lack of talent.

While Chris Miller and Phil Lord may have been a bit humiliated when news of their firing first broke, Kathleen Kennedy seems like she's trying to mend fences a bit. Kennedy is chalking it up to it all up to different work styles or, as it's more commonly referred to, "creative differences". That was previously the official reason given for the parting, and why Miller and Lord were reportedly escorted offset in midst of shooting Solo: A Star Wars Story.

During her conversation with EW, Kathleen Kennedy expanded on the duo's Star Wars departure, continuing to praise Chris Miller and Phil Lord's comedic timing and abilities. She also echoed Miller and Lord's previous comments about having a different process and approach to filmmaking.

I think these guys are hilarious, but they come from a background of animation and sketch comedy and when you are making these movies you can do that and there's plenty of room for improvisation, we do that all the time, but it has to be inside of a highly structured process or you can't get the work done and you can't move the armies of people to anticipate and have things ready. So, it literally came down to process. Just getting it done.

Indeed, there were many fans who were worried about Solo "getting it done" at all. While a first trailer finally arrived with the Super Bowl, there has been a noticeable lack of updates coming from team Lucasfilm. The movie is only a few months away, and we still don't know very much about its contents or characters. This was doubly alarming considering how rabid the fandom was following Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Solo: A Star Wars Story will arrive in theaters on May 25th, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.